Dear Citizen: Thank You for the Poker Chips . . .
It's good to be POTUS. President Bush received $17,316 in personal gifts last year, according to financial disclosures released by the White House, including a $5,474 bike and $515 cycling shoes from Trek Bicycle Corp. President John Burke and two custom poker chip sets with wood cases valued at $900 from United States Playing Card.
It's even better to be Vice President Cheney , who hauled in $39,722 in goodies: A $15,000 oil painting of his home by Thomas William Jones , a $6,125 Colt revolver from U.S. Firearms Manufacturing (donated to Wyoming's Cody Firearms Museum) and a $1,000 Lewis & Clark reproduction rifle from Stewart Hines of South Dakota. ( Duck! ) The veep and his wife also got free inaugural duds from McLean tailor Suk Im Kwon : a $5,360 dress-and-coat for her and a $1,850 suit for him.
  (James O. Forrest -- The Washington Post) |
Bush and Cheney can't accept personal gifts from foreign officials or governments, but can keep almost any gift from U.S. citizens -- so long as they disclose anything worth $305 or more. That included their Christmas gifts to each other: Bush gave Cheney a $338 hammock (for those lazy bunker afternoons), and the veep gave his boss $400 binoculars.
Washington Gigolo: Lady Who Lunches Seeks Vegan Who Munches
Hollywood is once again casting a jaded eye on our fair city with "The Walker," starring Woody Harrelson as an aging gay man who plays escort to lonely Washington society ladies.
Hahaha! Oh, wait -- it's a drama.
Yesterday, Harrelson and Kristin Scott Thomas filmed in Foggy Bottom on the third of four days of D.C. shooting. Harrelson was all cheesed out in a wavy hairpiece, mustache and fake teeth he kept fiddling with between takes. In the scene, an agitated-looking Scott Thomas (in a sleek black-and-brown dress and cute blondish bob) exited a house on 25th Street to join Harrelson in a black sedan where they exchanged dialogue before pulling away. Producer Deepak Nayer told us that "D.C. has been fantastic," but got pulled away before he could share more; interviews with director Paul Schrader suggest the film is a sort-of sequel to his 1980 movie, "American Gigolo."
The folks at nearby McFadden's saloon swung by to offer Harrelson lunch. "Is it vegan?" his assistant asked. Uh, no. The star was later spotted at one of Java Green's outdoor tables on 19th Street.
This Just In . . .
· Maybe you can't be a Senate wife, but now you can dress like one. A hundred dresses donated by political ladies such as Hadassah Lieberman , Jeanne Warner and even a senator herself, Washington's Maria Cantwell , will go up on eBay, starting today, for the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries. Proceeds go to Gulf Coast schools.
· Actress Nicole Kidman is finally calling singer Keith Urban her "fiance," according to People. So, that bauble on her third finger is, like, an engagement ring? Didn't want to jump to conclusions or anything.
· Another baby flap for Britney Spears ! Mom was snapped driving her 8-month-old son in his car seat (good), facing forward (bad). Her reps say she was in "total compliance" with California law, but safety experts say car seats should face the rear until a child is a year old.
Hey Isn't That . . . ?
· Nancy Pelosi lunching with former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski in a cozy booth at Washington's Teatro Goldoni yesterday.
· A gaggle of Winter Olympics medalists (ice hockey players Angela Ruggiero and Julie Chu ; snowboarder Rosey Fletcher and speedskaters Derek Parra , Rusty Smith and Casey FitzRandolph ) partying with Paralympians at Madam's Organ Monday, those in wheelchairs being carried up the narrow stairway and the whole crew shutting the place down. All were in town for a big banquet and visits with the president at the White House today.
· James Gandolfini , visiting wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Monday before attending an HBO screening. "Some of the cases in there made me really angry," the actor, looking svelte for a Soprano in a Vandyke beard and gray suit, told our colleague Paul Farhi. "It really makes you want all the rest of them over there home."
